Halo Wars Rock, Paper, Scissors in More Detail

Tim "Timotron" Deen, Lead Technical Designer on Halo Wars, gives more insight on the "Rock, Paper Scissors" aspect of the Halo Wars combat system.

Coming into any RTS (and Halo Wars is no exception) can be a daunting task for new players as they learn the relationships of the game units, especially game units that are not direct counter or game units that are just soft counters. As such this article will attempt to delve into a more detailed look at the Halo Wars counter system and dissect it for the players into a set of discrete rules and show how the rules apply to the game. Finally before we start a term used often in this article is “RPS” which is shorthand in a RTS for “rock paper scissors” and is used to describe the rule sets that govern which units win fights.

Now then a detailed look at the Halo Wars RPS reveals that it is a layered system of 3 RPS systems with a specific order of priority in application. Also each RPS system provides a different flavor to the game and serves to provide a specific combat flow purpose. Additionally the RPS relationships are split into the two separate buckets of “soft kill” and “hard kill”, “soft kill” relationships are where the units have a medium advantage in combat and “hard kill” is where units have a very strong advantage in combat.

• Highest priority RPS
  • Counter unit RPS
    • Counter units hard kill their countered unit type
    • Counter units are soft killed by mainlines that they do not counter

• Mid level RPS’s
  • Scout unit RPS
    • Hard kill counter infantry
    • Soft kill air
    • Soft killed by mainline infantry
    • Hard killed by mainline vehicles
  • Spartan RPS
    • Limited hard kill normal vehicles and air
• Lowest priority RPS
  • Basic unit RPS
    • Infantry beat Air
    • Air beats Vehicles
    • Vehicles beat Infantry
    • Mainlines are better than counters against buildings*

Note: * the cobra and wolverine has a minor siege counter role as a special bonus for UNSC.

The counter unit RPS provides hard counters to punish players who attempt to run a single unit army and is the highest priority counter system. Next the scout unit RPS provides balance in the early game against counter infantry and air before their main counters come online, while the Spartan RPS provides a specific counter to vehicles in tech level 1. Finally the basic unit RPS provides a low level bias to the combat so that the units not directly involved in a higher level counter system will still have a rule that applies to them.

The final item to cover in this article is to go over just what categories units fall into in halo wars for defining what they are. First all units have a role category assigned to them such as mainline or counter, and second they have a unit type assigned to them such as infantry or vehicle. The combination of those two items defines the unit’s base combat relationships to other units.

Unit Categories

• Role
  • Mainline unit
  • Counter unit
  • Scout unit
  • Special unit

• Type
  • Infantry
  • Vehicle
  • Aircraft

One caveat before concluding is that results will vary in actual game play due to players employing micro management of units and in situations where the opponent has superior upgrades or numbers. Now with that caveat said hopefully this article will give everyone an idea of how RPS design is expressed in Halo wars and why many of the units have the combat advantages that they do.

p.s. Here's a partial chart of Hard and Soft Counters below. Click for huge:

Halo Wars: Cutter vs Prophet of Regret Rush

From Bonfire Studios:

The most consistent problem I’ve read about in the forums is people struggling to defeat the Prophet of Regret rushing their base early in the game. Here are some step by step tips as Captain Cutter that should help you in your struggle to defeat this popular rush.

If you notice your opponent is the Prophet of Regret (use the ‘back’ button at the start of the game to see an opponent’s leader) then you can be pretty sure that he’s going to rush. Luckily as Cutter you can build defenses and a solid economy at the same time thanks to your unique unit, the Elephant. Here is a typical early game strategy for Cutter when up against the Prophet:

Immediately send your initial Warthog to scout the Prophet’s base, this is important in combating a rush. While you’re scouting with this Warthog you should be training an Elephant and have 2 Supply Pads building.

If he goes Temple first then you can assume his Prophet will be on his way to your base pretty soon. If you see a Temple first do the following:

1. Lock your Elephant down near one of your forward turret sockets and build a small army of Flamethrowers. (usually between 3-5)
2. Build a turret on the socket nearest your Elephant

The combined firepower of the Elephant, Turret, and Flamethrowers will be enough to put the Prophet in his place long enough for your superior Cutter economy to take hold and give you the upper hand in the game. If the Prophet is not putting early pressure on you then use your small Flamethrower army to capture one of the Forerunner structures (preferably a Supply Elevator or Reactor) that may be located on the map. From this point on it’s about making correct unit decisions and minimizing the effectiveness of his Prophet. Do not mindlessly waste units against the Prophet’s shield, instead aim at engaging him in a larger conflict where you can trap him and cast disruption bomb. A strong force of Marines and Flamethrowers early can quickly decimate the Prophet if focus fired properly. Continually scout your opponent to stay a step ahead of his strategy and be ready to add some Warthogs to your army if you see that your opponent is beginning to mass Jackals.


If you see the Prophet goes with a Warehouse first:

1. On a map with good forerunner structures send your initial Elephant near these and train enough Flamethrowers to take the structure (5 is usually enough for any structure).
2. Use this bonus (normally an elevator or reactor) to really push your Cutter economy to a strong advantage over the Prophet
3. Once the Prophet makes it to your base now he’ll usually be accompanied by either infantry units or Banshees, make the appropriate counters to these units and your superior economy should win the game. As Cutter training units from your Elephant as well as a Barracks in your base and some Warthogs from your Command Center can give you a very strong force in little to no time at all.

A typical Cutter build order against the Prophet will look something like this:

, Supply Pad, Supply Pad, , Supply Pad, Supply Pad, Supply Pad, Barracks, Reactor

I hope these tips help you to score a few wins against what looks to be the most popular rush at the moment.

Halo Wars Progress Tracker Updated

I've updated my tracking workbook in Microsoft Excel 2007 format that allows you to track your progress easier and give you a better idea of how to get your achievements as quickly as possible. I've added the full UNSC and Covenant Tech Trees with resource costs for each item. Version 3 is posted, feedback is welcome.

Prima Games Halo Wars UNSC Unit Overview Part 2

Covers the Scorpion, Cobra, Wolverine, Hornet, and the Vulture super unit.

Prima Games Halo Wars UNSC Unit Overview Part 1

Covers Warthogs, Marines, Flamethrowers and Spartans.

Halo Wars Demo Available

The playable demo is available NOW on Xbox Live. It's free and surprisingly fun. Click this link to automatically add it to your Xbox download queue.

I've beat both campaign levels and Skirmish on Heroic, using both Humans and Convenant, but haven't been able to get Gold on the second campaign level. Would appreciate any tips if people have them.

My #1 tip for the Halo Wars demo: Cobras friggin' PWN ASS. Move them just out of range of enemy fire and use Y to deploy. They can shoot farther than anything else I've found and seriously bring the pain. Guard them with Scorpions, and they're basically invincible. I actually think they're unbalanced from what I've seen. Hard to say for sure though, since I haven't played against real people yet. The Covenant have the Locust analog to the Cobra, but the Locust doesn't have the range of a deployed Cobra.

A cinematic montage has been posted that apparently has people clamoring for this game even more than before. Rumored to be filled with spoilers, so I haven't watched it yet.